In today’s world of radical change technologies have been easing out the life of people in almost every sphere; be it household or industries.
• Carrying relatively large volume of data (difficult to read long bar codes)
The more popularity of one technology hasn’t led to obsolescence of the other one and efforts are being made to integrate the use of two to enhance operability.
The biggest barrier to usage of RFID is its high cost. The cost escalates when the tag is to be made for specific application such as high temperature resistant tags, etc. But then as more and more firms start using RFID for their benefit, the cost will come down due to economy of scales.
RFID in supply chains
Anju Suman Tirkey,
FMS, Delhi
Puneet Kujur,
FMS, Delhi
In a convention held recently on supply chain practices, the speakers gave their views on the topic that how over the years, the problems that have challenged the supply chain practitioners have mostly remained the same: How do we get the right product to the right customer at the right time? How do we collaborate better with partners? The answers to those questions change over years. The desire to have more efficient and real time tracking system for goods have brought forward many technologies, the latest among them being Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology. This technology has made the phenomenon of Big Brother kind of tracking for goods almost possible.
To begin with, RFID is a technology that enables one to track an entity with the help of electromagnetic waves. There are two basic components to enable this:
i. An RFID reader i.e. the transceiver (with an antenna and a transceiver)
ii. A transponder i.e. a tag (that includes an antenna and a chip)
Each tag has a unique identification code which it responds back when it receives a radio query from the transceiver. The tag, which can be as small as the size of a grain, uses the power from this initial radio signal to respond back (Passive RFID) or may carry its own power source (active RFID) Before the emergence of RFID, Barcode had been very actively used for similar purpose. But then RFID offered significant advantages over barcode like:
•A higher range of physical distance covered for data readability (more than one-two feet)
• Ability to communicate non-Line of sight data
RFID in various parts of supply chains
A typical supply chain starts from production followed by shipping, distribution and retailing. RFID technology has risen to become a revolutionary element in such supply chain management. Production processes in manufacturing industries can be
optimized using RFID technologies to
obtain accurate information